bassbiscuits

Only problem I have with cabs and castors is when I the venue has a gravel car park. Hmm.

"Why having loads of fx pedals doesn't make you sound any better."

"Next month we examine how to maintain some sort of eye contact with your band during a long indulgent solo to cue them that you're about to end."

"How to actually stringbend in tune: we look at the note you are on, AND the note you need to get to."

I always like to be well prepared for gigs. There's so many things you can't control, but having gear that all works, a bag with the right leads, plugs, spares etc at least ensures the stuff you can control is correct. I tend to drive to all my gigs preferably by myself, so I can do vocal warm ups by singing along in the car. Once im at the venue I have quite a methodical way of setting up PA and the rest of the gear, tuning up, soundchecking etc, which channels my nervous energy. Once that's done I hate having to hang about to start, as I'm already mentally in the zone by then and just like a coiled spring. Once the first song has begun im happy.

No - its further north than that (I won't identify it here...) - sounds like there are at least two of these places then. Great!

Yup - it is as daft a situation as it sounds unfortunately! Oh well. We played. We got paid. We got home safe. No harm done.

In this instance the complaining guy was the owner of the venue tho! Appeared he was happy to take the money for renting it out for functions, but then adamant we tiptoed around not to disturb him. Seened a bit silly really!

I tried a Fender Custom Shop 1955 Precision Bass - i loved the really vintage look, the stunning relicing and the whole vibe of it. Then i sat down to play it, and just couldn't get on with it - totally underwhelmed. Especially when I A/Bd it against my own 1970 P that i'd brought for comparison, which just blew it away. I loved the idea of having two super cool vintage style basses, but the '55 just wasn't for me and I left it there. Bummer tho.

Yep. The Lull was clearly really high quailty in the sense of expensive little details and refinements etc. But play the two side by side and the Yamaha was clearly the better overall player and sounded much more powerful and versatile. I have no idea what the spec of the Yamaha is - generic Far Eastern pickups and pre-amp etc - but I've got no intention of changing any of it.

A white/tort/rosewood 2008 USA Jazz Bass that i played in a shop in Bury St Edmunds in 2008. I was actually meant to be trying out a Squier Classic Vibes Jazz there, and the one i tried was decent enough. Then i tried the USA jazz instead. It was incredible and just sang, and i couldn't put it down. It was best part of a grand even then if i remember correctly, and i just didn't have the money so i left empty handed. Probably a bit of rose-tinted specs involved looking back, but it was just everything i wanted at that moment.

My Yamaha BB604 that cost me £200 secondhand absolutely wiped the floor with the £2.5k Lull PJ4 I had at the time. Ridiculous, but sadly true. And it was better set up. Sold the Lull last year. Still got the Yamaha.

I've got an Aguilar GS410 which has castors on it as I can barely move it without them. I do tend to turn it on its side at gigs so it's in contact with the floor, as I'd always imagined it would sound better than on wheels. Then again I've played lots of festivals where the supplied backline is on wheeled flight cases anyway and it sounds great, so maybe there's less in it than I thought.

Me in my current guise as solo singer/guitar bloke; onstage with big hair in 1991, onstage in bare feet at a festival in Leicester in 2016 and depping with guitarist Aynsley Lister in 2015.

I did a wedding two years ago in a posh stable conversion place in the middle of nowhere which had a sound limiter 'to protect the neighbours' tho the only neighbour was the bloke who owned the place and lived next door. Same thing tho - the audience clapping was enough to set it off, and we played the whole gig about the same volume as i would play at home. When we finally left the organiser again made a point of stressing we had to leave quietly not to disturb 'the neighbour'. Fed up by now of the petty rules which had completely neutered the gig, we made a point of being as noisy as possible, leaving the stage door wide open while the disco was on and revving and tooting our horns at each other when we left. The happy couple later told us what a lovely time they'd had and enjoyed the band. Baffling.

Last summer I played a one-hour slot of upbeat, lively covers to kick start a charity party in the garden of a decent local pub. It went down well so the landlord booked me for three more well-paid solo gigs. So far so good. But when I turned up to play a few weeks later, it couldn't have been more different. He'd now decided that what he really wanted was just quiet background music. I toned down what I had and tailored it as best I could. But he and a couple of regular punters complained continuously that I was too loud, they didn't like the songs, and they steadfastly refused to pay any attention whatsoever let alone applaud. Given that he'd booked me on the strength of the last gig, I was a tad surprised to say the least. I did all three gigs and got paid in fairness but we mutually left it with a 'thanks but no thanks!'

In about 1991 my band - a sort of glam/metal crossover in the style of Saigon Kick/Extreme etc - was booked to play a pub in the Swansea Valley. We only got as far as playing a quick soundcheck to a smattering of stunned looking old boys sipping bitter, when the landlord gave us our marching orders. He'd been expecting a female vocalist playing the usual hits apparently. We didn't get paid. To top things off, on the way home our van got caught up in a big scuffle between riot police horses and rival soccer fans in Swansea.

...and fair play to you, if it works and its what people want to hear, then go for it. I spent an awful lot of time playing Wonderwall in my previous band (ie every single gig we did) and so I'm glad to get a complete break from it. I'm sure there's other stuff i play that features on the cheesy songs list to, so i'm certainly no authority!

I may have over-egged this slightly - i don't spend enough time thinking about Oasis to absolutely hate them or their songs! But I'm not remotely interested in them and go out of my way in my current gigs not to play any Oasis, ever, under any circumstances. There are plenty of other great songs to choose from, and I prefer to do stuff that hasn't already been done to death. By the same token, you can go and hear Wonderwall played by any busker anywhere in the UK - so you don't need me to play it as well.

My main beef with Oasis i think is that I never listened to them the first time round, so my only experience of them is being outdated, simplistic, pub rock chaff played to drunk people.

Songs I really dislike? Dire Straits - Walk of Life Cher - Believe (one of the worst songs I've ever heard) Pretty much anything from the old Stock Aitken and Waterman stable in the late 80s. Fortunately I've never been asked to play any of those songs. In terms of songs I've had to play thru gritted teeth, anything by Oasis (I particularly hate Wonderwall and Cigarettes and Alcohol). But drunken punters go mad for it, and my previous guitar player loved them. No thanks.

Just got a sturdy OBBM speakon cable from Paul - arrived really quickly, used it at gig the same day. Good lad. Pleasure doing business.

I can see myself falling for one of these if i ever get the chance to try one! I've been keeping an eye out for an older MIJ/CIJ version but they seem to be rare as chicken lips.

Yeah my '70 P doesn't have the black cushion.